Bombing Kills 43 in Shiite Holy City in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A bombing on Monday evening killed 43 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, penetrating one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq. Iraqi police officers at the scene and several witnesses said it had been carried out by a female suicide bomber, but the police chief later said the bomb had been hidden.

The explosion, the deadliest attack in Karbala in nearly a year, overshadowed a Baghdad visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, who met with Iraqi and American leaders and extolled what he described as “phenomenal” security improvements in the country.

Arriving on the eve of the five-year anniversary of the war, the vice president strove to label the invasion and occupation a success. “If you reflect back on those five years, I think it’s been a difficult, challenging, but nonetheless successful endeavor,” he said in Baghdad, adding that “it’s been well worth the effort.”

The explosion rocked central Karbala about 6 p.m. “Many people were killed and wounded,” said Abu Ahmed, 36, who minutes earlier had walked past the site and then came rushing back to help the wounded. “Everyone near the bomber was killed.”

In the aftermath of the attack, a dispute broke out about what had happened. Several witnesses and Iraqi policemen said the attack was by a female suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest. An American military statement also later attributed the bombing to a suicide attacker.

But hours after the bombing the Karbala police chief, Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, asserted that the explosion was from a large bomb that had been hidden in the area. He also told reporters in Karbala that he believed that the bomb was made in the city.

The conflicting versions could not be reconciled. But if the accounts of other policemen and witnesses are correct, it would be one of the most devastating suicide bombings carried out by a woman.

The number of female suicide bombers has increased recently, facilitated by Muslim customs that do not allow men to touch women, so they usually cannot be searched at security checkpoints. In a religious center like Karbala, most women wear a flowing head-to-toe black overgarment, known as an abaya, which provides an easy way to conceal an explosive vest or belt.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Nor was it clear whether the attack was meant to upstage visits to Iraq by Mr. Cheney and by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who, like Mr. Cheney, is a strong proponent of keeping large numbers of troops in the country.

Abdul al-Yassiri, the leader of the provincial council in Karbala, said the final toll was 43 dead and 73 wounded, including 8 Iranians.

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North of Baghdad, two American soldiers were killed Monday when a large roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle, the American military command in Baghdad said. The soldiers were part of a team working to clear a roadway of bombs and other threats, the military said.

In Baghdad, Mr. Cheney signaled that a large reduction in troop levels was unlikely anytime soon. “It would be a mistake now to be so eager to draw down the force that we risk putting the outcome in jeopardy,” he said. “And I don’t think we’ll do that.”

Violence has dropped sharply over the past six months, but attacks nationwide are running at 2005 levels, and American service members are still dying at an average of one per day.

Some American officials in Iraq worry about whether the drop in violence is permanent. Much of the decline, for example, is attributable to a decision by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr to order his militia to stop fighting. In addition, thousands of former Sunni insurgents are now being paid by the American military to serve in neighborhood militias. It is not clear what may happen if Iraqi leaders disband the militias.

After meeting with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the powerful Shiite party known as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Mr. Cheney suggested that the Iraqis had made a “tremendous amount of progress” not just on security but also on the political front.

Privately, many American officials in Iraq are concerned that political progress has been limited, though. A bill intended to allow some former Baath Party members back into the government may end up causing as many problems as it fixes, for example. And another crucial bill that called for provincial elections by October was vetoed.

An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Karbala.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Bombing Kills 43 in Shiite Holy City in Iraq. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe